When Does School Readiness Start?
The answer might surprise you: school readiness starts before your baby is even born. This might sound odd. You may even be thinking, "But I’m only just pregnant, why are we talking about school readiness already?"
And that’s a completely fair question - one I would have asked myself not too long ago.
That was until I learned about the science, and what it reveals.
Research shows that school readiness begins LONG before your baby is ready to start school.
Let me explain.
The first 1000 days - from conception to age two - lay the foundation for everything that follows, including school readiness.
During your baby’s first 1000 days - that’s the time from conception to two years - they’re building their brain like no other time in their life.
At this stage, they are literally primed for learning. The learning your baby does during the first days is the foundation for all the other learning they do for the rest of their life.
Think about building a house - you want to make sure the foundations are strong. You’re building those foundations in the first 1000 days of your baby’s life.
Learning is like building a pyramid it needs a wide base with all the bricks the same sort of height, and all the bricks at the bottom form the foundation for the next layer. Each layer builds to support the top brick (our finished child) Each brick is the skills and knowledge your child gains over time.
Strong foundations support your baby’s learning over time and mean they’ll be able to use the base knowledge they’ve gained to build on as they progress through life. If there are gaps in the bricks, the pyramid is wobbly and may even collapse.
It’s Not About Fancy Classes or Money
We all want the best start for our babies; we want to help them have an amazing future, including helping them arrive at school ready to thrive.
But knowing how to do that can be hard.
Often, we think throwing money at the problem is the answer. We think it’s about providing expensive classes, paid-for events, or the latest gadgets or toys.
But if we do that, we miss the obvious.
We undermine the simple.
We assume that unless we’re doing all the fancy things, we’re not doing the right thing for our child.
This kind of thinking often leads us to feel like what we’re doing as parents is pointless.
But this couldn’t be further from the truth.
Simple is never simple for your baby
For your baby, the basics ARE the learning. it is in the small, basic and simple things that the biggest learning takes place.
When you sing a song, or you help your baby to hold a rattle and shake it, your baby is learning.
The skills they gain through these simple activities form the foundation of all their future learning.
Help your baby’s development even before they’re born!
Dance, sing, chat. These interactions all help to build your baby’s learning in various ways helping form the foundations on which they will build. Those foundations will help ensure they are school-ready when they arrive in Reception.
Once you understand the learning your baby gets from the tiny things you do each day, you’ll realise HOW amazing you are!
When you sing, you’re:
Helping your baby’s language development, increasing their vocabulary, and slowing down the vowel sounds in the words so they can absorb them more easily.
Giving them music, which builds their listening skills, concentration and focus while also developing their rhythm and rhyme.
Surrounding them with music which helps your baby develop their creativity, which in turn supports problem-solving, creative thinking and even maths!
When you understand the learning your baby is gaining from simple activities, you’ll see just how powerful those tiny moments are - and realise that expensive toys and classes really aren’t necessary!
The Power of Simple Learning Adventures
I want to help you take your baby on a journey of amazing adventures in learning. I want to help you and your baby spark excitement for the learning they find in the really simple things in life because when we do this right from the start, what we are actually doing is building their passions and interests for life and we’re getting them school-ready from the start.
You have SUCH an important role in your baby’s learning journey.
Helping you understand that role and the learning that you’re providing your baby every day is what I am passionate about.
I’ve seen the other side - I‘ve seen the children who sit in school each day, disengaged, hating every second and feeling like a failure. I’ve watched them employ every tactic under the sun to avoid taking the risk of putting something on paper because it might be wrong. They see failure as just that - failure - when actually, in reality, it’s an important part of the learning process.
When school works, it is a celebration of success and nurtures growth, when it doesn’t, it’s a daily reinforcement of failure.
I want to help you ensure your baby - yes, that one that’s still growing in your tummy - arrives at school ready to thrive and succeed in life.
And that starts NOW…
If you want some help, the Oliiki app is full of simple activities you can do each day. We unpick the learning in each activity, show you the science, and help you be the amazing parent you are. We help get your baby ready for school and life through tiny playful moments starting from the first day of conception, ensuring they experience success RIGHT FROM THE START.
